UCSMP project supported with $4 million grant

The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project is sharing a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop teacher enhancement materials for its Everyday Mathematics series and other NSF-sponsored curricula for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

The project is a joint enterprise by UCSMP and Technical Education Resource Center, located near Boston, which is developing an NSF-funded elementary series called Investigations in Number, Data and Space.

"The idea of the initiative is to develop materials modeled on UCSMP teacher-training materials. These will be complete workshop kits to be shipped to local school districts for workshops led by a local trainer," said Max Bell, Professor in Education and Director of the Elementary Materials Component of UCSMP.

Bell is co-principal investigator on the project with Sheila Sconiers, Director of the Teacher Development Component of UCSMP. Sconiers has moved to the Boston area to direct the new effort.

The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, which focuses on upgrading the mathematics experience of average students, produces curricular and teacher-training materials that provide essential leadership in the teaching of mathematics. These materials include MathTools for Teachers, published by Everyday Learning Corporation. More than 30 schools in the Chicago Public Schools have implemented that program, and more than 1,000 teachers in the Chicago area have successfully completed the K-3 training. The program has been adopted by over 100 school districts nationwide. Everyday Learning Corporation also publishes Everyday Mathematics. That series, which begins with a kindergarten edition and will conclude with a sixth-grade edition, is due to be completed by fall 1997 with the support of a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.